Flying-machine



L. S. GARDNER. FLYING MACHINE,. APPLICATION FILED ms. 2. 1918.

Y Patented July 12, 1921.

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L. S. GARDNER;

FLYING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- 2. I918- 1,384,608. Patented July 12, 1921.

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Y LEVI S. GARDNER, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

FLYING-MACHINE.

' Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 12, 1921 Applicationfiled February 2, 1918. Serial No. 215,024.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, Lnvr S. GARDNER, acitizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of Wayne,State of Michigan, have invented a certain new'and useful Improvement inFlying-Machines, and declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of'the same, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.One of the objects of my invention is to produce a flying machine inwhich the aeroplanes are so proportioned and located as to enable themto gain the maximum advantage from the air currents which are set upbythe propellers;

A further object of my invention is to produce a flying machine in whichthe parts are so proportioned that great stability and buoyancy areobtained. A further object of my invention is to produce a flyingmachine in which the steering, the elevation and the balance areeffected by means independent of the aeroplanes so as to render itunnecessary to bend or distort any portion of the planes for controllingpurposes.

A further object of -my invention is to provide means independent of theaeroplanes for producing a turning effort about the longitudinal axis ofthe machine when it is desired to travel out of a straight line.. A'further object of my invention is to:

produce a combined rudder and elevating device which may be manipulatedin such a way as to cause the machine to rise or fall, turn in eitherdirection in. a horizontal:

plane, or turn in either direction upon an inclined plane whoseinclinatlon 1s sufliclent to prevent the machine from leaving the pathalong a tangent.

A further'ob'ject of my invention is to produce a controlling apparatushaving a single controlling member by which the steering, the elevationand the balancing are effected.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be pointed outwith particularity in the claims; but,for a full understanding of my invention and of its various objects andadvantages, reference may be had to the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a plan view of a flying machine arranged in acoordancewith apre ferred form of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation; v

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a portion of the body and tail, partsbeing omitted to show more clearly the controlling wires or cables; i

Fig. f is a diagrammatic rear view looking toward the left in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a view partly in section. and partly in elevation, on anenlarged scale, illustrating the operating member of the controllingmechanism; and

Fig. 6 is a view looking toward the right in Fig. 5. Y

In accordance with" one feature of my invention I arrange the plane orplanes at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the flying machine,the inner portions of the planes being in advance of the outer portions.This arrangement results in bringing all parts of the planes intothemost advantageous positions relative to the air currents set up by thepropeller. The air which passes through the propeller begins to traveloutwardly in a curved path shortly after leaving the propeller and asomewhat similar path is followed by air currents which travel aconsiderable dis being that the machine lies in a current of air whoseareais the smallest along some transverse line in rear of the propellerand which increases in area as the distance from that line toward thefront and toward the rear increases. By placing the planes at an angleto the longitudinal axis, I am enabled to bring them approximately alongthe lines past which the greatest amount of air flows for a given crosssectionalarea and the buoyancy of the machine becomes greater than isthe case in a machine having planes of the same transverse width butarranged at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the machine.Another advantage which I have obtained by the angular arrangement ofthe planes is'that I am enabled to place the weight of the motor andpressure on the planes intercepts the longi tudinal axis of the machine,thus bringing a considerable area of the planes well in advance of themain weight and the remainder of the planes far out and well in the rearof the weight.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents a back bone or body of anysuitable construc-' tion and 2 is a propeller which, in the arrangementshown, is arranged at the front end. 'My invention is applicable eitherto biplanes or monoplanes, the form illustrated being that of a biplanehaving two parallel plane members, 3, on one side and similar planemembers, 4:, on the other side. In accordance with my invention I placethe planes 3 and 4 at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of themachine so that the outer ends are considerably in rear of the portionsat the center of the machine. This permits the planes to availthemselves ofall of the valuable air currents, as heretofore explained,with a smaller transverse spread than where the planes are arranged inthe usual manner at ri 'ht angles to the longitudinal axis. Furthermorethe longitudinal dimensions of the planes measured parallel to thelongitudinal.

p on the planes 3 and 4 crosses the longitudinal axis. At the rear endthe back bone gradually merges into a series of fins, there being avertical fin, 7 extending above and below the back bone and a horizontalfin 8, extending on opposite sides of the backbone. This arrangement mayof course be varied accord ing to the manner in which the rudder andelevating planes are disposed. In the preferred arrangement, thatillustrated, all of the movable controlling elements arelocated at therear end of the body or back bone and,

. ing of course understood that the rudder and the elevating elementsmay be variously for the sake of brevity, I shall describe in detailonly-this form of my invention, it bedisposed relative to each other asthey'now are in other machines. 7 Hinged to the'rear edge of the fin 7are twovanes, 9 and '10, the one being above the longitudinal axis ofthe machine and the other below. These vanes, among other things,serveas the vertical rudder for the machine. "A similar set of vanes,11- and 12, hinged to the rear edge 1 of the ,fin 8 serve as thehorizontal rudder.

In accordance with my invention I provide means for manipulating therudders in a simple manner so as to elevate or lower the machine, turnit to theright or left' without 7 tilting, or else turn the machineand'ti'lt it at the same time so as to enable it to round a sharp curvesuccessfully.

By swinging thev'anes 11 and 12 up the machine is caused to rise whileupon swinging thevanes down themachine is caused to Where it is desiredto turnf tilt the machine about its longitudinal axis in order tobring'the. outer side of the machine higher than the inner side, .Topro:

duce a positive tilting of thefmachine Ihave provided means for swingingall four vanes 7 simultaneously in: thesame angular direcf tion, eitherclockwise or counterclockwise, 1

thus'forining either a right hand or a left hand screw at the rear endof the body or back bone and producing a twist about the longitudinalaxis and a consequent elevation of one side of the machine and alowering of the other side. 'This manipulation of the rudders is alsoemployed toprevent the machine from tilting or to right it after it hasbeen tilted from any cause, the screw-like position of the vanes beingmaintained only long enough to establish theequilibrium of the machineand they being then; allowed to resume their position 111 the planes ofthe fins.

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I desire not onlyto providemeans for pro-i I ducing the movements of thevanes. of the rudders in the mannerdescribed but to provide acontrolling mechanism which shall be simple and convenient and whichwill ,make

it seem natural for the operator to move the controlling member in thenecessary direction to produce the desired result. 'I accomplish this byconnecting wires or cables to a single arm orlever which carriesarevoluble wheel which is grasped by the operator and which permits himeither to move the lever back and forth aboutahorizontal axis,

rotate the lever :about a verticalaxis, turn the wheel on thelever,simultaneously rotate I the lever aboutthe verticalaxis and turn the Ywheel .on thelever or simultaneously .move' the lever about both ofitsfaxes and turn the wheel; these various movements causing the machineto rise or fall, causing it to turn to the right or left in a horizontalplane, causing it to tilt toward the. right or left, causing it to turntoward the right or left in a tilted condition, or causing it to ascendor descend in a right hand or left hand spiral.

Referring again-to the drawings, 13 represents a leverrevolubly.mountedin a bear ing sleeve, 14, which is provided withhorizontaltrunnions, 15, seated in bearings in,

a suitable stationary bracket or support, 16, in advance of theoperators seat. The parts are soarranged that the axis of the trunabouta vertical axis. On the upper end of the lever is a wheel, 17 which isarranged to rotate about a horizontal axis at right angles to thehorizontal pivotal axis of the lever, The wheel 17 is provided with aperipheral groove, 18, to receive the controlling wires or cablesito bedescribed hereinafter. I On the lower end of the lever, below the trunnions, are two pulleys, 19 and 20, and two similar pulleys, 21 and 22,are carried by the lever at a point above the trunnions, the distancebetween each set of pulleys and the trunnions being the same. The leveris provided with out-riggers, 23 and 24, lying parallel with the wheel17 one of these out-riggers being on each side of the lever. Each of theout-riggers carries a set of pulleys indicated at 25 and 26 and at 27and 28, each set of pulleys being arranged at the same distance from theverp y .9 and 10 1n the same direction but, since the tical axis of thelever andthe axis of the pulleys being coincident with the horizontalaxis of the lever. Each ofthe rudder vanes is provided with a transversearm projecting from opposite sides thereof, these arms beingconveniently arranged adjacent to the hinges as shown. For the sake ofclearness I have indicated the double arm on the vane 9 by the referencecharacters 30 and 31 the double arm on the member 10 by the referencecharacters 32 and 33; the double arm on the member 11 by the referencecharacters 3 1 and 35; and the double arm on the member 12 by thereference characters 36 and 37. By referring to Fig. 4 it will be seenthat a'wire or cable, 40, passes from the outer end of the arm 30 overthe pulley 28, around the wheel 17, down over the pulley 26 and then tothe outer end of the arm 31. A similar wire or cable, 4:1, extends fromthe outer end of the arm 32 over the pulley 25, around the wheel 17 overthe pulley 27 and then to the outer end ofthe arm 33. It will thus beseen that by turning the wheel 17 in one direction or the other thevanes 9 and 10 are swung in opposite directions. It will also been seenthat by turning the lever about its vertical axis the two vanes 9 and 10are swung toward the right or toward the left in the same direction,depending upon the direction in which the lever is turned.

A third wire or cable, 42, is connected to the outer end of the arm 34;,passes around the pulley 21, then around the wheel 17, back under thepulle 19 and to the outer end of the arm 35. X fourth cable, 43, ex-

.around pulley 20,

tends from the outer end of the arm 36 around the wheel 17, aroundpulley 22 and backto the outer end of the arm 37. It will thus be seenthat when the lever is moved back and forth about its horizontal axisthe vanes 11 and 12 will be swung up and down in the same directiondepending upon the direction of movement of the lever. This movement ofthe lever does not affect the vanes 9 and 10 because the pulleys25 to28, inclusive, have the same axis as the horizontal axis of the leverand therefore the condition of the wlres or cables 4 0 and 11 remainsunchanged. When the wheel 17 is rotatedthe vanes 11 and 12 are swung inopposite directions. The turning of the wheel 17 also causes the vanes 9and 10 to be swung in opposite directions so that all of the vanes aremoved whenthe wheel is turned and are set so as to form either a righthand or a left hand screw, depending upon the direc tion in which thewheel is turned. When the lever is turned about its vertical axis thevanes 9 and 10 are wung in the same direction as I have heretoforeexplained. The turning ofv the lever upon its vertical axis roduces aswinging movement of the vanes cables or wires connected to the vanes 11and 1.2,passaround the pulleys 19 to 22 inclugive which arearrangedsubstantially at the vertical axis of the lever, no movement of thehorizontal vanes is produced by the turning of the lever about itsvertical axis.

It will thus be seen that by simply moving the lever backv and forth thehorizontal rudder alone is operated soas to produce a simple rise orfall of the machine; when the controlling lever is simply turned aboutits vertical axis the vertical rudder is operated so as to produce aplain horizontal turning movement; similarly if the wheel is turnedwithout moving the lever a tilting action is produced by causing thevanes to take the form of a screw, this tilting action being used'eitherto tilt the aeroplane out of a horizontal position or else to return itto a horizontal position if it has been tilted for any reason or by anycause; if the lever is turned about its vertical axis and the wheel issimultaneously turned, there will be a combined turning and tiltingaction which will permit the machine to make a sharp turn; and finallyif the lever is moved back or forth, is simultaneously turned, and thewheel is also turned, all of the vanes will be affected in such a way asto cause the machine to fly in an ascending or descending spiral whichis right hand or left hand according to the direction in which thecontrolling members are moved.

While I have illustrated and described only a single preferred form ofmy invention, I do not desire to be limited to the particular structuraldetails thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all formsand arrangements which fall within the terms employed in the definitionsof my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim: V

1. In a flying machine, a vertical rudder, a horizontal rudder, acontrolling lever mounted so as to be rotatable about a horizontal axisand about a vertical axis, pulleys on opposite sides of said levercoincident with said horizontal axis, pulleys on the lever above andbelow the horizontal axis and located approximately'at said verticalaxis, a member on the upper end of said lever rotatable about alongitudinal axis; a cable extending from each side of said verticalrudder over one'of the pulleys at the side of the lever and to theaforesaid member,'and cables extending from the opposite sides'of thehorizontal "rudder and each passing over one of the pulleys of thoselocated above and below the horizontal axis and to the aforesaid member.I t

2.-In a flying machine, vertical rudders and horizontal rudders, acontrolling device comprising a lever arranged to be rotatable about avertical axis and also about a horizontal axis, a member on the upperend of the lever rotatable about a longitudinal axis,

cables extending'from opposite sides of each of the rudders to saidmember, and guides on said lever for said cables for causing saidrudders to be turned into screw formation when said member is turned,for causing the vertical rudders tobe shifted when the lever is turnedabout its vertical axis, and for causing the horizontal rudders to beshifted and said controlling devices for causing the vertical ruddersalone to be shifted when the lever is turned about its vertical axis,for causing the horizontal rudders alone to be'shifted when the lever isturned about,

its horizontal axis, and for causing both of sald rudders to be actuatedsimultaneously into a screw formation when said member is turned aboutits axis. r

4. In a flying machine, vertical rudders and horizontal rudders, acontrolling device comprising a lever rotatable about two axes at rightangles to each other, a member on the upper end of the lever rotatableabout an axis arranged at an angle to each of the aforesaid axes, cablesextending from oppov e site sides of each of the rudders to said memher,and guides onsaid lever for said cables for causing the rudders to beturned into 5 screw formation when said member is turned,

forcausing the vertical rudders to be shifted when the lever is turnedabout one of its axes, and for causin the horizontal rudders to beshifted when the lever is turned about its other axis.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

LEVI s. GARDNER. 1

